1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer systems and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for providing an improved microprocessor.
2. History of the Prior Art
There are thousands of application programs which run on computers designed around particular families of microprocessors. The largest number of programs in existence are designed to run on computers (generally referred to as "IBM Compatible Personal Computers") using the "X86" family of microprocessors (including the Intel.RTM. 8088, Intel 8086, Intel 80186, Intel 80286, i386, i486, and progressing through the various Pentium.RTM. microprocessors) designed and manufactured by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. There are many other examples of programs designed to run on computers using other families of processors. Because there are so many application programs which run on these computers, there is a large market for microprocessors capable of use in such computers, especially computers designed to process X86 programs. The microprocessor market is not only large but also quite lucrative.
Although the market for microprocessors which are able to run large numbers of application programs is large and lucrative, it is quite difficult to design a new competitive microprocessor. For example, even though the X86 family of processors has been in existence for a number of years and these processors are included in the majority of computers sold and used, there are few successful competitive microprocessors which are able to run X86 programs. The reasons for this are many.
In order to be successful, a microprocessor must be able to run all of the programs (including operating systems and legacy programs) designed for that family of processors as fast as existing processors without costing more than existing processors. In addition, to be economically successful, a new microprocessor must do at least one of these things better than existing processors to give buyers a reason to choose the new processor over existing proven processors.
It is difficult and expensive to make a microprocessor run as fast as state of the art microprocessors. Processors carry out instructions through primitive operations such as loading, shifting, adding, storing, and similar low level operations and respond only to such primitive instructions in executing any instruction furnished by an application program. For example, a processor designed to run the instructions of a complicated instruction set computer (CISC) such as a X86 in which instructions may designate the process to be carried out at a relatively high level have historically included read only memory (ROM) which stores so-called micro-instructions. Each micro-instruction includes a sequence of primitive instructions which when run in succession bring about the result commanded by the high level CISC instruction. Typically, an "add A to B" CISC instruction is decoded to cause a look up of an address in ROM at which a micro-instruction for carrying out the functions of the "add A to B" instruction is stored. The micro-instruction is loaded, and its primitive instructions are run in sequence to cause the "add A to B" instruction to be carried out. With such a CISC computer, the primitive operations within a micro-instruction can never be changed during program execution. Each CISC instruction can only be run by decoding the instruction, addressing and fetching the micro-instruction, and running the sequence of primitive operations in the order provided in the micro-instruction. Each time the micro-instruction is run, the same sequence must be followed.
State of the art processors for running X86 applications utilize a number of techniques to provide the fastest processing possible at a price which is still economically reasonable. Any new processor which implements known hardware techniques for accelerating the speed at which a processor may run must increase the sophistication of the processing hardware. This requires increasing the cost of the hardware.
For example, a superscalar microprocessor which uses a plurality of processing channels in order to execute two or more operations at once has a number of additional requirements. At the most basic level, a simple superscalar microprocessor might decode each application instruction into the micro-instructions which carry out the function of the application instruction. Then, the simple superscalar microprocessor schedules two micro-instructions to run together if the two micro-instructions do not require the same hardware resources and the execution of a micro-instruction does not depend on the results of other micro-instructions being processed.
A more advanced superscalar microprocessor typically decodes each application instruction into a series of primitive instructions so that those primitive instructions may be reordered and scheduled into the most efficient execution order. This requires that each individual primitive operation be addressed and fetched. To accomplish reordering, the processor must be able to ensure that a primitive instruction which requires data resulting from another primitive instruction is run after that other primitive instruction produces the needed data. Such a superscalar microprocessor must assure that two primitive instructions being run together do not both require the same hardware resources. Such a processor must also resolve conditional branches before the effects of branch operations can be completed.
Thus, superscalar microprocessors require extensive hardware to compare the relationships of the primitive instructions to one another and to reorder and schedule the sequence of the primitive instructions to carry out any instruction. As the number of processing channels increases, the amount and cost of the hardware to accomplish these superscalar acceleration techniques increases approximately quadratically. All of these hardware requirements increase the complexity and cost of the circuitry involved. As in dealing with micro-instructions, each time an application instruction is executed, a superscalar microprocessor must use its relatively complicated addressing and fetching hardware to fetch each of these primitive instructions, must reorder and reschedule these primitive instructions based on the other primitive instructions and hardware usage, and then must execute all of the rescheduled primitive instructions. The need to run each application instruction through the entire hardware sequence each time it is executed limits the speed at which a superscalar processor is capable of executing its instructions.
Moreover, even though these various hardware techniques increase the speed of processing, the complexity involved in providing such hardware significantly increases the cost of such a microprocessor. For example, the Intel i486 DX4 processor uses approximately 1.5 million transistors. Adding the hardware required to accomplish the checking of dependencies and scheduling necessary to process instructions through two channels in a basic superscalar microprocessor such as the Intel Pentium.RTM. requires the use of more than three million transistors. Adding the hardware to allow reordering among primitive instructions derived from different target instructions, provide speculative execution, allow register renaming, and provide branch prediction increases the number of transistors to over six million in the Intel Pentium Pro.TM. microprocessor. Thus, it can be seen that each hardware addition to increase operation speed has drastically increased the number of transistors in the latest state of the art microprocessors.
Even using these known techniques may not produce a microprocessor faster than existing microprocessors because manufacturers use most of the economically feasible techniques known to accelerate the operation of existing microprocessors. Consequently, designing a faster processor is a very difficult and expensive task.
Reducing the cost of a processor is also very difficult. As illustrated above, hardware acceleration techniques which produce a sufficiently capable processor are very expensive. One designing a new processor must obtain the facilities to produce the hardware. Such facilities are very difficult to obtain because chip manufacturers do not typically spend assets on small runs of devices. The capital investment required to produce a chip manufacturing facility is so great that it is beyond the reach of most companies.
Even though one is able to design a new processor which runs all of the application programs designed for a family of processors at least as fast as competitive processors, the price of competitive processors includes sufficient profit that substantial price reductions are sure to be faced by any competitor.
Although designing a competitive processor by increasing the complexity of the hardware is very difficult, another way to run application programs (target application programs) designed for a particular family of microprocessors (target microprocessors) has been to emulate the target microprocessor in software on another faster microprocessor (host microprocessor). This is an incrementally inexpensive method of running these programs because it requires only the addition of some form of emulation software which enables the application program to run on a faster microprocessor. The emulator software changes the target instructions of an application program written for the target processor family into host instructions capable of execution by the host microprocessor. These changed instructions are then run under control of the operating system on the faster host microprocessor.
There have been a number of different designs by which target applications may be run on host computers with faster processors than the processors of target computers. In general, the host computers executing target programs using emulation software utilize reduced instruction set (RISC) microprocessors because RISC processors are theoretically simpler and consequently can run faster than other types of processors.
However, even though RISC computer systems running emulator software are often capable of running X86 (or other) programs, they usually do so at a rate which is substantially slower than the rate at which state of the art X86 computer systems run the same programs. Moreover, often these emulator programs are not able to run all or a large number of the target programs available.
The reasons why emulator programs are not able to run target programs as rapidly as the target microprocessors is quite complicated and requires some understanding of the different emulation operations. FIG. 1 includes a series of diagrams representing the different ways in which a plurality of different types of microprocessors execute target application programs.
In FIG. 1(a), a typical CISC microprocessor such as an Intel X86 microprocessor is shown running a target application program which is designed to be run on that target processor. As may be seen, the application is run on the CISC processor using a CISC operating system (such as MS DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows NT, and OS/2 which are used with X86 computers) designed to provide interfaces by which access to the hardware of the computer may be gained. Typically, the instructions of the application program are selected to utilize the devices of the computer only through the access provided by the operating system. Thus, the operating system handles the manipulations which allow applications access to memory and to the various input/output devices of the computer. The target computer includes memory and hardware which the operating system recognizes, and a call to the operating system from a target application causes an operating system device driver to cause an expected operation to occur with a defined device of the target computer. The instructions of the application execute on the processor where they are changed into operations (embodied in microcode or the more primitive operations from which microcode is assembled) which the processor is capable of executing. As has been described above, each time a complicated target instruction is executed, the instruction calls the same subroutine stored as microcode (or as the same set of primitive operations). The same subroutine is always executed. If the processor is a superscalar, these primitive operations for carrying out a target instruction can often be reordered by the processor, rescheduled, and executed using the various processing channels in the manner described above; however, the subroutine is still fetched and executed.
In FIG. 1(b), a typical RISC microprocessor such as a PowerPC microprocessor used in an Apple Macintosh computer is represented running the same target application program which is designed to be run on the CISC processor of FIG 1(a). As may be seen, the target application is run on the host processor using at least a partial target operating system to respond to a portion of the calls which the target application generates. Typically these are calls to the application-like portions of the target operating system used to provide graphical interfaces on the display and short utility programs which are generally application-like. The target application and these portions of the target operating system are changed by a software emulator such as Soft PC.RTM. which breaks the instructions furnished by the target application program and the application-like target operating system programs into instructions which the host processor and its host operating system are capable of executing. The host operating system provides the interfaces through which access to the memory and input/output hardware of the RISC computer may be gained.
However, the host RISC processor and the hardware devices associated with it in a host RISC computer are usually quite different than are the devices associated with the processor for which the target application was designed; and the various instructions provided by the target application program are designed to cooperate with the device drivers of the target operating system in accessing the various portions of the target computer. Consequently, the emulation program, which changes the instructions of the target application program to primitive host instructions which the host operating system is capable of utilizing, must somehow link the operations designed to operate hardware devices in the target computer to operations which hardware devices of the host system are capable of implementing. Often this requires the emulator software to create virtual devices which respond to the instructions of the target application to carry out operations which the host system is incapable of carrying out because the target devices are not those of the host computer. Sometimes the emulator is required to create links from these virtual devices through the host operating system to host hardware devices which are present but are addressed in a different manner by the host operating system.
Target programs when executed in this manner run relatively slowly for a number of reasons. First, each target instruction from a target application program and from the target operating system must be changed by the emulator into the host primitive functions used by the host processor. If the target application is designed for a CISC machine such as an X86, the target instructions are of varying lengths and quite complicated so that changing them to host primitive instructions is quite involved. The original target instructions are first decoded, and the sequence of primitive host instructions which make up the target instructions are determined. Then the address (or addresses) of each sequence of primitive host instructions is determined, each sequence of the primitive host instructions is fetched, and these primitive host instructions are executed in or out of order. The large number of extra steps required by an emulator to change the target application and operating system instructions into host instructions understood by the host processor must be conducted each time an instruction is executed and slows the process of emulation.
Second, many target instructions include references to operations conducted by particular hardware devices which function in a particular manner in the target computer, hardware which is not available in the host computer. To carry out the operation, the emulation software must either make software connections to the hardware devices of the host computer through the existing host operating system or the emulator software must furnish a virtual hardware device. Emulating the hardware of another computer in software is very difficult. The emulation software must generate virtual devices for each of the target application calls to the host operating system; and each of these virtual devices must provide calls to the actual host devices. Emulating a hardware device requires that when a target instruction is to use the device, the code representing the virtual device required by that instruction be fetched from memory and run to implement the device. Either of these methods of solving the problem adds another series of operations to the execution of the sequence of instructions.
Complicating the problem of emulation is the requirement that the target application take various exceptions which are carried out by hardware of the target computer and the target operating system in order for the computer system to operate. When a target exception is taken during the operation of a target computer, state of the computer at the time of the exception must be saved typically by calling a microcode sequence to accomplish the operation, the correct exception handler must be retrieved, the exception must be handled, then the correct point in the program must be found for continuing with the program. Sometimes this requires that the program revert to the state of the target computer at the point the exception was taken, and at other times a branch provided by the exception handler is taken. In any case, the hardware and software of the target computer required to accomplish these operations must somehow be provided in the process of emulation.
Because the correct target state must be available at the time of any such exception for proper execution, the emulator is forced to keep accurate track of this state at all times so that it is able to correctly respond to these exceptions. In the prior art, this has required executing each instruction in the order provided by the target application because only in this way could correct target state be maintained.
Moreover, prior art emulators have always been required to maintain the order of execution of the target application for other reasons. Target instructions can be of two types, ones which affect memory or ones which affect a memory mapped input/output (I/O) device. There is no way to know without attempting to execute an instruction whether an operation is to affect memory or a memory-mapped I/O device. When instructions operate on memory, optimizing and reordering is possible and greatly aids in speeding the operation of a system. However, operations affecting I/O devices often must be practiced in the precise order in which those operations are programmed without the elimination of any steps or they may have some adverse effect on the operation of the I/O device. For example, a particular I/O operation may have the effect of clearing an I/O register. If the operations take place out of order so that a register is cleared of a value which is still necessary, then the result of the operation may be different than the operation commanded by the target instruction. Without a means to distinguish memory from memory mapped I/O, it is necessary to treat all instructions as though they affect memory mapped I/O. This severely restricts the nature of optimizations that are achievable. Because prior art emulators lack both means to detect the nature of the memory being addressed and means to recover from such failures, they are required to proceed sequentially through the target instructions as though each operation affects memory mapped I/O. This greatly limits the possibility of optimizing the host instructions.
Another problem which limits the ability of prior art emulators to optimize the host code is caused by self-modifying code. If a target instruction has been changed to a sequence of host instructions which in turn write back to change the original target instruction, then the host instructions are no longer valid. Consequently, the emulator must constantly check to determine whether a store is to the target code area. All of these problems make this type of emulation much slower than running a target application on a target processor.
Another example of the type of emulation software shown in FIG. 1(b) is described in an article entitled, "Talisman: Fast and Accurate Multicomputer Simulation," R. C. Bedichek, Laboratory for Computer Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This is a more complete example of translation in that it can emulate a complete research system and run the research target operating system. Talisman uses a host UNIX operating system.
In FIG. 1(c), another example of emulation is shown. In this case, a PowerPC microprocessor used in an Apple Macintosh computer is represented running a target application program which was designed to be run on the Motorola 68000 family CISC processors used in the original Macintosh computers; this type of arrangement has been required in order to allow Apple legacy programs to run on the Macintosh computers with RISC processors. As may be seen, the target application is run on the host processor using at least a partial target operating system to respond to the application-like portions of the target operating system. A software emulator breaks the instructions furnished by the target application program and the application-like target operating system programs into instructions which the host processor and its host operating system are capable of executing. The host operating system provides the interfaces through which access to the memory and input/output hardware of the host computer may be gained.
Again, the host RISC processor and the devices associated with it in the host RISC computer are quite different than are the devices associated with the Motorola CISC processor; and the various target instructions are designed to cooperate with the target CISC operating system in accessing the various portions of the target computer. Consequently, the emulation program must link the operations designed to operate hardware devices in the target computer to operations which hardware devices of the host system are capable of implementing. This requires the emulator to create software virtual devices which respond to the instructions of the target application and to create links from these virtual devices through the host operating system to host hardware devices which are present but are addressed in a different manner by the host operating system.
The target software run in this manner runs relatively slowly for the same reasons that the emulation of FIG. 1(b) runs slowly. First, each target instruction from the target application and from the target operating system must be changed by fetching the instruction; and all of the host primitive functions derived from that instruction must be run in sequence each time the instruction is executed. Second, the emulation software must generate virtual devices for each of the target application calls to the host operating system; and each of these virtual devices must provide calls to the actual host devices. Third, the emulator must treat all instructions as conservatively as it treats instructions which are directed to memory mapped I/O devices or risk generating exceptions from which it cannot recover. Finally, the emulator must maintain the correct target state at all times and store operations must always check ahead to determine whether a store is to the target code area. All of these requirements eliminate the ability of the emulator to practice significant optimization of the code run on the host processor and make this type of emulation much slower than running the target application on a target processor. Emulation rates less than one-quarter as fast as state of the art processors are considered very good. In general, this has relegated this type of emulation software to uses where the capability of running applications designed for another processor is useful but not primary.
In FIG. 1(d), a particular method of emulating a target application program on a host processor which provides relatively good performance for a very limited series of target applications is illustrated. The target application furnishes instructions to an emulator which changes those instructions into instructions for the host processor and the host operating system. The host processor is a Digital Equipment Corporation Alpha RISC processor, and the host operating system is Microsoft NT. The only target applications which may be run by this system are 32 bit applications designed to be executed by a target X86 processor with a Windows WIN32s compliant operating system. Since the host and target operating systems are almost identical, being designed to handle these same instructions, the emulator software may change the instructions very easily. Moreover, the host operating system is already designed to respond to the same calls that the target application generates so that the generation of virtual devices is considerably reduced.
Although this is technically an emulation system running a target application on a host processor, it is a very special case. Here the emulation software is running on a host operating system already designed to run similar applications. This allows the calls from the target applications to be more simply directed to the correct facilities of the host and the host operating system. More importantly, this system will run only 32 bit Windows applications which probably amount to less than one percent of all X86 applications. Moreover, this system will run applications on only one operating system, Windows NT; while X86 processors run applications designed for a large number of operating systems. Such a system, therefore, could be considered not to be compatible within the terms expressed earlier in this specification. Thus, a processor running such an emulator cannot be considered to be a competitive X86 processor.
Another method of emulation by which software may be used to run portions of applications written for a first instruction set on a computer which recognizes a different instruction set is illustrated in FIG. 1(e). This form of emulation software is typically utilized by a programmer who may be porting an application from one computer system to another. Typically, the target application is being designed for some target computer other than the host machine on which the emulator is being run. The emulator software analyzes the target instructions, translates those instructions into instructions which may be run on the host machine, and caches those host instructions so that they may be reused. This dynamic translation and caching allows portions of applications to be run very rapidly. This form of emulator is normally used with software tracing tools to provide detailed information about the behavior of a target program being run. The output of a tracing tool may, in turn, be used to drive an analyzer program which analyzes the trace information.
In order to determine how the code actually functions, an emulator of this type, among other things, runs with the host operating system on the host machine, furnishes the virtual hardware which the host operating system does not provide, and otherwise maps the operations of the computer for which the application was designed to the hardware resources of the host machine in order to carry out the operations of the program being run. This software virtualizing of hardware and mapping to the host computer can be very slow and incomplete.
Moreover, because it often requires a plurality of host instructions to carry out one of the target instructions, exceptions including faults and traps which require a target operating system exception handler may be generated and cause the host to cease processing the host instructions at a point unrelated to target instruction boundaries. When this happens, it may be impossible to handle the exception correctly because the state of the host processor and memory is incorrect. If this is the case, the emulator must be stopped and rerun to trace the operations which generated the exception. Thus, even though such an emulator may run sequences of target code very rapidly, it has no method for recovering from these exceptions so cannot run any significant portion of an application rapidly.
This is not a particular problem with this form of emulator because the functions being performed by the emulators, tracers, and the associated analyzers are directed to generating new programs or porting old programs to another machine so that the speed at which the emulator software runs is rarely at issue. That is, a programmer is usually not interested in how fast the code produced by a emulator runs on the host machine but in whether the emulator produces code which is executable on the machine for which it is designed and which will run rapidly on that machine. Consequently, this type of emulation software does not provide a method for running application programs written in a first instruction set to run on a different type of microprocessor for other than programming purposes. An example of this type of emulation software is described in an article entitled, "Shade: A Fast Instruction-Set Simulator for Execution Profiling," Cmelik and Keppel.
It is desirable to provide competitive microprocessors which are faster and less expensive than state of the art microprocessors yet are entirely compatible with target application programs designed for state of the art microprocessors running any operating systems available for those microprocessors.
More particularly, it is desirable to provide a host processor having circuitry for enhancing the speed of operation and compatibility of such a processor.